Last night, I was in a store when ABC World News Tonight was airing its segment on Dr. Susan Love's Army of Women. A woman (older, African American) started yelling as soon as she heard a reporter promo the upcoming segment... mentioning something about breast cancer research and 1 million women. I wish I had had a tape recorder or video camera so I could have captured exactly her fear and mistrust. It went something like this:

"They want to experiment on women? For breast cancer? That man, that doctor wants to experiment with breast surgery? On a million women? Alice <proprietor of the store>, what do you think of that? Why would a breast cancer survivor want to be in an experiment. That's just stupid."

She didn't even watch or listen to the actual segment, which had nothing to do with breast surgery. And Susan Love is not a man.

Other people probably think the way this woman does. And I'd love to know more about why.

Phyllis Johnson

10/ 3/08 12:31pm

I can understand where that fear come from.  There is a history of irresponsible experimentation like the Tuskegee syphillis study in the 1930's, but these days the ethical standards are much higher.  I've participated in studies that involved just answering questions.  I also participate in the BioBank, a project that stores tissue from people with specific health issues for researchers to use.  I read the fine print very carefully before I join any type of study because it is important to be sure privacy is protected.  I've never been in a clinical trial, but it's important for people to ask a lot of questions about what drug they might get and how carefully it's already been tested before they join.  We need to understand that our doctors know what medicines to give and what the most effective doses are because other people volunteered to be in a clinical trial.